Stock Performance.

I've been reading around on this forum for some time now over the course of the last couple of years, and being an avid vw enthusiast, I am looking for something in the lines of a daily driver, and have decided on a potentially cheap alternative, a 3g accord. A chance to buy an '89 lxi, with a fuel injected a20 5 speed has come up, and I'm looking for something with a little less worry when it comes to reliability than my golf, so can you tell me how performance would be for it stock? And what my bolt on performance options would be like if i got the car?

Well not to discourage a could be 3geezer but, coming from an ITB golf that probably has a bunc of other stuff done to it, it'll seem painfully slow. 118hp if you're lucky but, in regards to a good daily driver, it's great! I've only had to rejet my carb and that's the only maintenence besides the basic oil change. If you can get teh lxi for a good price I would say go for it. Let us know what your decision becomes. :)

well you can add the standard intake/headers/and exhaust. when i first bought my lxi, stock performance was one of the reasons. once i added a cold air it made me want to work on it even more just because of how god the a20 looked and because of the little power gain i got from the intake.

do you happen to have any pictures of the car youre looking to buy? it would greatly help this thread

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the accord. And yeah, I'm not looking for something to out-perform the golf, but something that's reliable (at least more reliable than the golf), and can be slowly built up over time. Though I don't have pics, I do have specs. Its got 150k miles on it, was owned by an old lady school teacher, so its not beaten at all, 5 speed, 2 door, blue paint thats got a few dings from being parked under trees etc. and no rust, with a tan interior. She wants 1500 for it.

As far as performance goes, do they make cams, gears, etc. for the a20? I haven't really looked into it, but I was just wondering if i/h/e was as far as it went.

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Originally Posted by cke

There are very few bolt-ons for our generation of Accords.

A great deal has to be custom fabricated.

It's something a great deal of people don't want to deal with, but it's also what makes a good portion of this close knit community interested with pushing our little 2.0's to their limit. (And share, for the most part)

So if you grew up with an erector set and love to build things from scratch, this car's for you! =)

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Fabrication is half the fun.

There is a cam gear for sale, I think it may have been bought already though.

Check the marketplace section of 3geez.

there ya go! what else do you need to consider when it comes to buying this car?

Well, its been regularly maintained, theres no leakage anywhere, it seems like a solid car. I was pretty much just wondering how far i could take it engine wise without doing a swap or turbo. But now that I think of it, how are the suspension upgrades for this generation? My friend had an auto 87 lx that handled like crap, so I figured I'd ask.

Oh, and are there parts for other cars that are stock but can be put on the a20? such as a B series intake manifold, etc. I'm looking at all options but a swap. I've done quite a few H series swaps into 4th gen. accords for friends and such, but I really don't want to go through the hassle with this car.

have you done a search for all the stuff that you want to know? cuz the intake maniforld question has been answered a couple of times and yeah you can get other parts for the suspension of the car to make it better. but from my understanding, the 89 lxi is the one that has the best of all four years because of the stock sway bars and such. of course all of this can be changed.

just look around, every now and again i just go to ebay and type 89 accord to look for some deals.

good luck

oh and do you have pics of your vw, i myself was very into them, but they were a big hassle to keep.

you can get an ok amount of things for this car, like shock and strut set from tokico or kyb and springs from intrax, eibach, weapon R and probably a couple others. for engine parts you can get a weapon R intake, pacesetter makes a header and exhaust,high-flow catalytic converter, eClutchmaster stage 1 racing clutch kit. You can get a couple types of body kits and a carbonfiber hood. you have a couple options with lights like clear corner and turn signal lights, h4 headlights or angel eyes. you can get blue/green glow gauges or reverse glow gauges with carbonfiber, aluminum, or silver carbonfiber look gauge bezels. Koyo high-flow radiator. Drilled rotors

Those are just the things i can think of, im sure there are more parts i didnt mention but you got to look around the fourm and some websites. ebay is a pretty good one, i got most of my parts from there and havent been disappointed yet. plus there is a lot of things you can customize like CAI from other cars and probably other parts. hopefully you get the car because you wont be disappointed they are good cars and fairly easy to work on. keep me updated with whats going on.

for the a20, a couple companies will regrind your cam for you. the b16a/b18c5 intake manifold will bolt on (but look at the thread to see mod to fit it). you can put some pacesetter headers on unless you get lucky and find a new set of dc headers or someone is parting with theirs. you can upgrade the management and ecu to obd1 and tune it that way. and the list continues for a little longer.

Thats a pretty good price for that car man, Id say get it, without modifying it I think itll suit your needs quite well. It was a well built car. :dunno: I think thats about it.

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Originally Posted by mkymonkey

oh and do you have pics of your vw, i myself was very into them, but they were a big hassle to keep.

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yeah, they can be a huge hassle to keep if you don't get one in near mint condition. the only one i have of the one in my sig, is the one in my sig. my current 86 however:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a17.../golfsmall.jpg

Engine:
16v gti close ratio 5 speed tranny
tt cam
drilled out airbox w/ k&n filter and 3 inch intake tube
bosal header
tt cat back exhaust with borla muffler
tt cam adjustable cam gear
ported intake manifold
soon to be 16v dohc swap

Interior:
red and black racing seats up front
custom gauges
leather boot
momo knob
pilot steering wheel (hey, it was free)
2 kenwood 6x9's
2 kenwood 5 1/4's
2 kenwood 4x6's
2 kenwood dual mags
kenwood cd player
10" dual voice coil est sub in band pass box
various amps to power the speakers

Suspension:
tenzo R mean 6 17's with khumo ecsta tires
intrax springs (temporary)

and a westy grill/light setup
its not much right now, but i'm workin on it

https://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?t=46969

a group buy for cam gears is going on now!

other than that, u can get a cam reground, headers by pacesetter (not the greatest quality from what im to understand) and you can fabricate or modify cold air intake. welcometo the site